The invention relates to a method for the electronically modified pictorial representation of positions of locations of selected destination points in geographical maps.
The representation to scale of distances of locations in maps, particularly in road maps, with other topographical conditions is known. Road maps are generally used and comprehensible as information graphics. Road maps serve for the visual information about positions of locations. The contents are uniformly based on a map scale. Thus, the user of a road map is able to orient himself by means of various symbols and their arrangement on the road map in order to estimate and plan for distances and the route to a destination point.
Due to the uniformly applicable scale, the displayed symbols representing the location information are presented with the same ratio to the actual distance in space. Classically, such road maps are distributed in a printed form and are used on monitors, as a visual display of the data in vehicular navigation systems, route planners or navigation systems on PCs or mobile devices. The IT-based usage provides the user with the visual presentation of additional information, i.e. primarily the display of his location or starting point and the highlighting of travel routes and other traffic-specific, location-related information, such as traffic obstructions, refueling facilities and an estimated travel time for a selected or proposed travel route.
The representation of the location-related information in an information graphic of this type remains dependent upon the map scale. Therefore, the representation of the distances of locations remains tied to the map scale, and users estimates the position of the location and the travel time to arrive there based on the representation, or he learns the travel time from spoken or visual additional information. The travel time has no influence on the visual representation of the location-related information according to the map scale.
Travel times to other locations with the same distance in space may vary due to traffic routing, traffic situations, the choice of means of transport or other conditions. The display of the true-to-scale location distances may in that case be misleading with respect to the time expenditure necessary for covering the distance. For example, the travel duration for a route that is shorter in space may be longer in time than for a route that is longer in space, even though they are displayed as being closer or more distant in the true-to-scale display and the shorter distance is estimated to be more easily covered than the more distant location.
The travel times and other information, such as travel costs etc. are generally presented only as retrievable additional information. Generally, alphanumerical characters are used for this purpose. An informative alteration of the map representation based on visual perception, which depends on the additional information, does not take place.
The use of a conventionally true-to-scale map provides the user with no purely visually represented information on the time or travel cost expenditure required to reach the locations indicated in the map and about which location distances could be reached with alternative means of transport with the same travel cost expenditure. Navigation systems, route planners and electronic maps are commercially known which indicate routes to a selected destination point in a highlighted manner in accordance with certain criteria, such as the shortest travel time or travel distance, certain road types. Further information, such as travel costs, can be displayed in accordance with the selected means of transport and the travel destination. However, only as text-based additional information.
The visual presentation of information by means of road maps according to the prior art is disadvantageous in that users are unable to immediately estimate the expenditure for reaching certain destination points from the starting point. In the visual map representation, the shortest distance between two locations is perceived to be the travel distance that is the easiest to cover. In the event users wish to orientate themselves by referring to information other than proximity in the map representation, they need to refer to additional information, which slows down the presentation of information. For example, users most frequently have the option, when selecting the travel distance to a certain location, of selecting one of three alternative routes to the selected location. The alternative traffic routings are then displayed highlighted in color, and the travel times are displayed in a legend. In part, the costs for the journey or travel are also shown for this purpose if the navigation system or the route planner provides these data.
Commercially known maps based on a geographical scale thus only insufficiently serve for advantageously and quickly absorbing relevant information, such as travel time.
Other solutions are known in addition to the commercially known solutions for including the factor time in conventional geographical map depictions.
Isochronous map representations are known. Here, the time expenditure required for reaching a destination is shown in different colors within a displayed map. For example, map regions that can be reached with the same time expenditure are each provided with uniform coloring.
Though the representation of the factor travel time in an isochronous map combines the geographical map with a time-based representation by the surfaces and points of the same time-based distance around a starting point being marked with an identical color, this type of representation cannot be directly absorbed by human perception because the color-marked surfaces must first be identified, compared and then assigned to the geographical representation in a search process.
A representation of the travel time around a selected starting point is also known from DE 100 46 000 A1. Here, the representation dispenses with the geographical, conventional representation in favor of a purely time-dependent representation of the destinations around a selected starting point.
Thus, the representation of a purely time-based map as in DE 100 46 000 A1 only serves insufficiently for incorporating the information of the factor travel time around a starting point in an improved manner. The assignment of the obtained information in this purely time-based map lacks a geographical frame of orientation. Users are provided with a number of destination points on a white surface.
The advantage obtained is thus undone again, because the absorption of the destination points now requires a mental effort from the observer, namely, that he must first assign the destination points using further information, such as a conventional geographical map.
From EP 1 56 60 A1, a representation of the factor travel time in an electronic map representation is also known, such that, subsequent to a starting and a destination location along the displayed route, the distinctive elements of the map, such as the representation of location and the road, are represented in a manner distorted in accordance with the factor time. EP 1 56 60 A1 also mentions that the geographical representation of the route and the time-dependent representation of the route are shown simultaneously and in parallel in two windows on the screen in order thus to enable a comparative absorption of the contents shown.
According to EP 1 56 60 A1, it is, however, disadvantageous that the geographical representation of the route and the time-dependent representation of the route are shown simultaneously and in parallel in two windows on the screen in order thus to enable a comparative absorption of the contents shown. However, the representation in two windows is an obstacle to a direct and uniform absorption. In addition, it has the large drawback that this form of display only works if the distortion of the time-based representation, compared to the conventional geographical representation, is only very slight. If, in the case of a passenger vehicle, the possible travel speeds of 20-200 km/h are taken into account, the time-based representation of a region comprising, as in the case of a major city, a motorway tangent, an access road and a traffic-reduced zone, for example, would be subject to such a great distortion with the factor 10 that the time-based map no longer offers any advantageous informational usefulness.
In summary, all solutions according to the prior art are disadvantageous with respect to a significant improvement of the perception of the factor time and other additional information in a geographical map.